However, Elin does not react how a ‘normal’ person should due to her unbalanced mental state, but we still see her unique reaction and what should be the ‘normal’ reaction as Elin sometimes questions why she doesn’t feel melancholic, for example, as someone else might.įor a debut novel, it is brilliant. The horror aspect is great also, as Pearse once again channels how someone should feel about a murder scene and strange happenings through Elin.Īuthor Sarah Pearse has released her debut novel The Sanatorium / Picture Credit: Rosie Parsons Photography The way in which Elin’s anger surfaces, due to issues with her brother and their past, works brilliantly as a source of information as when you are angry, you tend to tell more home truths – and that is exactly how Elin is written and it works so well. The sharp, clear tone Pearse has set is brilliant, you only see what she wants you to see, mainly through the eyes of our main character, Elin. The atmosphere of this book is excellent. Just when you are wondering what happened to someone or wonder what went on with a certain plot point, Pearse has a character ask about it or reveal something, and it is a brilliant way of telling this story. Having said this, once you get past the first section, you can really see Pearse’s writing style – her ability to reveal things not through narration but through the characters. There are also a few parts in these pages (and the book as a whole) where some things are slightly over-described. The first 50 pages or so of this book are a little fast-paced as sentences are rather short, spurring the reader on rather quickly. Just two days into the trip, Elin’s brother, Isaac, tells her his fiancée and her childhood friend is missing.įrom then onwards, we follow the nervous and constantly panicking Elin as she tries to solve the case – with no police coming due to the snowy conditions, no official jurisdiction, and murders to solve. The unnerving thing is, that this stylish hotel used to be a sanatorium. The party takes place in a luxury hotel high up in the mountains, over 2,000 feet high. The narrative of her novel follows former detective Elin Warner as she reluctantly embarks on a journey to the Swiss Alps with her boyfriend, Will, to meet her brother for his engagement party. Always drawn to creepy and peculiar things, the writer has allowed the macabre to creep beautifully into her first release. Pearse is a young writer who lives by the sea with her husband and two daughters.

The sanatorium novel